Tuesday, 15 March 2016

As well as the Redwings in Hyde Park, there was a small flock in Kensington Gardens, on Buck Hill.

The flock in Hyde Park were joined by some Goldfinches. The chatttering of Goldfinches in a tree sounds quite like that of Redwings, and I may have missed them earlier.

On a chilly grey day with few people about, the Pied Wagtails had moved to the south side of the Serpentine, where usually there are too many people and dogs for them to hunt in peace.

Most of the turf here has never been relaid, so its ecosystem is well established and there are more insects than in the fenced-off part of the Parade Ground. Before the constant intrusion of concerts and funfairs on the Parade Ground wrecked the grass at regular intervals, there was a fair-sized flock of Pied Wagtails there, but they are having a thin time on the newly laid turf.

The cold wind had not deterred the Little Owl on Buck Hill from looking out of the hole in the lime tree.

But the Little Owls near the leaf yard and the Albert Memorial were sheltering, and not to be seen.

A Jackdaw rooting around in the undergrowth near the bridge had found something edible.

The white-faced Blackbird near the Italian Garden now comes out to be given a bit of biscuit.

The Black Swan and girlfriend number one had left their nest on the reed raft, and he was devotedly following her about, displaying and calling.

Girlfriend two was nearby, but they took no notice of her, or she of them.

The Mute Swans are restless, and there is a lot of flying about for no particular reason.

A pair of Egyptians on the Vista were proclaiming their ownership of a small muddy puddle where one of the land drains is broken.

Both the Peregrines were on the tower of the Metropole Hilton hotel.

This ledge is where they dismantle the pigeons they have killed, and you can see bits of pigeon draped over the edge. They toss the inedible parts on to the heads of the passers-by 300 feet below.

4 comments:

I'm very fond of Goldfinch voices since they started coming to my window feeder a couple of years ago, and now seem to pick them out more easily.And when they bicker among themselves, they sound a little bit like small budgerigars. Their colouring is no more lairy (?spelling?) than Robins and Blue Tits, I think.

Funnily enough, their bright cheery colouring makes for the perfect camouflage. I've been within two metres of a few goldfinches feeding on the ground in a small plot of grass (it was in the shade, but still), and I never noticed them until they took flight.

About Me

I have been coming to the park for more than 60 years, and watching and feeding the birds. I am not an expert birder, but I know and love the park.
My main camera is a Pentax K-1 with a Pentax DFA 150-450mm zoom lens. At 7lb it is just light enough to carry for several hours. I also carry a Nikon Coolpix P900 for video and near shots where depth of field is required, and for very long shots where its enormous 83x zoom (equal to a 2000mm lens) is more important than a high-quality image.

This list is of all the birds, including rare visitors, that have been seen in the park since 1889. Sources include W.H. Hudson, 1898 (the naturalist in whose memory the Rima memorial was built); A.H. Macpherson, 1929; and various publications of the London Natural History Society (LNHS) from 1935 to 1993, with an appendix added by Roy Sanderson in 1995 to bring the total to 177 species. Since then it has been updated from LNHS bird reports, many of these from observations by Des McKenzie, who wrote the predecessor of this blog.